


26/09/19: misunderstanding

by excelsi_or



Series: to a boy i love right now [15]
Category: SEVENTEEN (Band)
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Teeny Angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-09
Updated: 2020-05-09
Packaged: 2021-03-03 02:47:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,527
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24097555
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/excelsi_or/pseuds/excelsi_or
Summary: An article goes around the Internet of a rookie seemingly on a date with a producer (ahem, Jihoon, wtf?). This is the aftermath of that (i.e. Jihoon's new to relationships. he's still figuring shit out.)
Relationships: Lee Jihoon | Woozi/Original Female Character(s)
Series: to a boy i love right now [15]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1252010
Kudos: 9





	26/09/19: misunderstanding

_September 26_

“Hey, has Jihoon hyung talked to you lately?” Seungkwan asks as he walks into the kitchen, phone in hand.

She nods. “I talked to him last night before bed. He’s spending a lot of time at the studio for that girl group’s debut.” Before she finishes her orange juice, she asks, “Why?”

Seungkwan looks down at his phone. “I just…”

There’s a bang on the door and then the door bursts open. They both turn, perturbed by the noise, but expecting no one else but Hansol. They’d given him a key since Seungkwan was tired of having to open the door for him.

“We gave you that key so that we didn’t have to be bothered by you,” Seungkwan says. “Not so you could—” Hansol snatches Seungkwan’s phone out of his hand and then drags him into the bedroom.

Unfazed by the abruptness of Hansol’s entrance, she puts her glass into the dishwasher and then packs her bag up for class. She checks the time on her phone and finds a message from Jeonghan.

“She should know!” Seungkwan exclaims, walking out of the bedroom.

“Not like this. Not from us,” Hansol protests.

She opens her messages from Jeonghan, figuring it’s something about his new apartment with Seungcheol. Since the two moved into a new apartment a few blocks away, Jeonghan has been sending plenty of updates. She figures this is no different.

**Jeonghan (9:19)**

[Img. sent]

What the hELL is thiS?

[Link]

She squints hard at the photo that Jeonghan sent her. It’s taken in the dark, but the lighting from a building’s windows gives off enough light to make out two bodies, one female, one male. The male has a black mask covering half his face, a baseball cap on that covers his hair. The woman looks familiar, but she can’t place her, especially not from this photo.

She slings her bag over her shoulder, about to leave, as she opens the link. Jeonghan must have sent it to clarify. It’s probably idol news; Jeonghan loves stuff like that.

However, when she opens it, the headline does nothing to clarify.

**Love in the air?**

“Are you sure hyung hasn’t talked to you?” Seungkwan asks, fighting off Hansol’s attempt to stop him.

She chuckles, scrolling through the article. “Yeah, he’s…” Words die on her tongue when she reads the caption underneath the photo: _Rookie Kim Jiwoo caught on a late night date with one of her producers._

She turns slightly, a small smirk on her face. “I’m guessing you were trying to tell me about Jihoon’s date with someone who isn’t me?”

Seungkwan and Hansol’s eyes widen. “Noona, it’s probably—” Hansol starts.

“Whatever it is can wait. I have school.” She tucks her phone into her back pocket and bends over to slide her feet into her shoes. When she straightens, she sees the horrified faces of Seungkwan and Hansol. “I’ll be fine. Text you if I panic.” She waves and lets herself out of the apartment. She shakes her head.

“It’s nothing,” she mutters.

And while she’s almost 100% sure it’s nothing and that she’s overreacting, she avoids looking at her phone for the entire day. Any messages sent to her by the boys are ignored. Her friends back home send messages as well; those also go ignored. The only reason she opens her phone is for music and to check if the microbiology lab is open for her to check her test results.

Once she’s done for the day, she finally braves all the messages that have pinged her phone. She reads through the concerned messages from Wonwoo, Seungcheol, and Jeonghan. Hansol and Seungkwan worry that she’s gotten herself run over by a bus and ask her if they can meet between classes. Her friends are all sending her links, demanding to know if it’s true and if she’s okay. How they all recognize Jihoon’s silhouette is astounding. She sends Hansol an “I’m fine” text, and then proceeds to copy and paste it to everyone’s message before she opens Jihoon’s.

**Jihoon (10:34)**

Gyu woke me up to tell me you might be mad.

I hope you know that it’s not true.

**Jihoon (10:47)**

Should I be concerned? You’re not answering me.

**Jihoon (13:12)**

Everyone is telling me you aren’t answering them either.

So I’m not too concerned, but

I hope you aren’t mad at me.

**Jihoon (14:08)**

Can we talk at least? Do you need me to explain?

I don’t know how to do this.

Jagi, can you answer me?

She starts to text out a response, but stops. Carefully, she crosses campus, chewing her bottom lip as she stares at Jihoon’s messages. It’s almost 4, so he’s likely in the studio. His name taunts her until she presses the tiny phone icon.

The phone hardly rings once before Jihoon’s voice fills her ears.

“You scared me,” he breathes.

She doesn’t answer, unsure what she’s going to say now that he’s there.

“Jagi? Do you want an explanation?”

She exhales, annoyed at herself. “I shouldn’t need one.” The pavement beneath her feet is suddenly very interesting. “I’m being stupid and irrational, but yes, if you have one.”

Jihoon breathes a sigh of relief. His story is detailed. He starts from the beginning, discussing how Jiwoo is part of the rookie group that’s going to debut. He explains how everyone had had time to do their recordings with him, but when he’d gone back through a few of the songs, something had happened to Jiwoo’s audio.

“I don’t know if it was my fault or if something got messed up when I saved it, but I asked her if she could come in and do her parts again. It wound up going really late and Jiwoo insisted that she stay and watch me mix her voice and all that boring studio stuff. When we finished it was like 2:30 and she suggested we go out to eat.”

The longer the story goes, the further her stomach drops, but she says nothing.

“So we went out to this ramen place that’s open late and that picture is probably taken after we ate and I was waiting with her for a cab to take her home.”

She’s quiet for a long time.

“Jagi?”

She’s found herself on a bench along the walkway. People pass by her and she takes a second to process her thoughts, because she doesn’t want it to come off as anger. “Okay,” she winds up saying.

She can picture Jihoon squinting, trying to figure out what she means. So she elaborates.

“I don’t… I’m not mad at you,” she clarifies.

“Are… are you sure? Because you don’t sound sure.”

“ _That_ , I’m sure of,” she promises. “I’m not mad at you and I knew when I saw it that you wouldn’t do that. I’m just… I’m surprised? I don’t know what I feel.”

“Do you want me to come over so we can talk about it in person?” he asks.

She shakes her head, even though she knows he can’t see it. “No, you’re busy. That’s fine.”

“I don’t know if you’re genuinely upset or not,” Jihoon sighs.

“I would tell you,” she insists. “We agreed to be honest.”

“Yes, okay.” That seems to ease the edge in his voice.

She pauses to weed through her thoughts. A couple walks by her, the girl’s arm around her boyfriend’s waist, his arm slung over her shoulders. They’re talking about dinner plans.

“She likes you,” she finally says. “And I don’t want to be mad at her, because you’re fantastic, why wouldn’t she like you?”

Jihoon chuckles. “I think you’re feeling jealously, jagi.”

She lets out a short laugh. “Oh, maybe. It feels weird.”

“I know,” Jihoon snorts. “It’s irrational for me to say ‘don’t be jealous’, so… I love you.”

The tension in her stomach unknots itself at his words. “I love you too.”

“So I can tell everyone that you’re not really pissed at me?”

She hikes her bag over her shoulder and stands. “Yes, you can. Are you coming over tonight?”

“Yeah, Seungkwanie is bugging me about a movie night.”

She smiles, her heart feeling better the longer she talks to him. “Okay, Ji. I’ll talk to you tonight then. Love you.”

“Wait, wait. She likes me?”

“I mean from the story you told me, yeah.”

“Oh.”

She waits for him to say more, but nothing comes. “Love you.”

“So she stayed late because she likes me?”

“Yes.”

“And the ramen?”

“Did she ask you about your ideal type and stuff like that?”

“Yes?”

“She was trying to figure out if you were single. Did you tell her you have a girlfriend?”

“I don’t remember,” Jihoon admits.

She chuckles. “I’m sure it’s fine. See you later. Love you.”

Jihoon hums. “Wait, jagi.”

“What now?” she sighs. After the fiasco that has been the entire day, she’s ready to go to bed.

Jihoon seems to think twice about what he’s going to say. “I love you. I’m sorry for what happened.”

She snorts as she sits down on the bus bench. “Don’t be sorry. I’ll see you.”


End file.
